Debunking AMLO’s ’60 Minutes’ Appearance

Berta Gisela Gaitan, who was running mayor of the municipality of Celaya in Mexico, was gunned down on Monday at a political rally. Hers was the third such assassination of a political candidate in recent weeks.

Her brazen murder indisputably refutes many of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s claims in a recent “60 Minutes” interview. Not only did he dismiss his nation’s crime problems and his administration’s own corruption, but he also specifically said that political candidates would be safe this election season.

They’re not. According to the Wilson Center, “Mexican cartels see local election cycles as an opportunity to attack vulnerable local political candidates to gain control over local governments and build subnational criminal governance control.” Gunning down rival candidates, the Wilson Center notes, cartels “can reap multiple benefits.”

The claim made by López Obrador (AMLO) was just one of many that’s easily refuted.

For example AMLO claimed that Mexico is helping to slow immigration to the U.S. But the reality is the Mexican government has encouraged the passage of migrants through Mexico on their way to the U.S.

However, Mexican government has shown no interest in assisting in curbing the flow of migrants, despite the United States suffering the highest volume of illegal immigration in the history of our country.

When Chihuahua Gov. Maru Campos requested federal help to address the escalating humanitarian crisis at the border, Interior Secretary Adan Augusto, who was filling in for AMLO during his COVID-19 illness, emphasized that Mexico is a country of asylum with open doors for migrants. He stated that the federal government would continue to guarantee migrants’ free passage through Mexico.

Then, during a meeting with White House security advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Augusto reiterated that Mexico does not intend to act as the United States’ migration police and emphasized that decisions would be made to improve the quality of migration for all their “foreign brothers” who have made the decision to transit through the territory.

How about crime? AMLO claimed on “60 Minutes” that “Of course we prosecute homicides. There is no impunity in Mexico. They all get prosecuted.”

But the reality is different; the vast majority of crimes don’t even get reported. According to the New York Times, “Less than 4 percent of criminal investigations are ever solved in Mexico, studies show, and about 92 percent of crimes went unreported in 2022.”

Mexico’s homicide rate remains near historical highs, and there are more 30,000 homicides a year. From 2015 to 2021, the national homicide rate in Mexico has increased by 76.3%, with the total number of homicides over this seven-year period reaching 211,000. In 2021, there were 94 homicides per day on average in Mexico, and this homicide rate is most likely underestimated.

And there are large numbers of missing persons in Mexico, a proportion of which may have been victims of homicide. In 2023 alone, 21,923 persons have been reported as missing in Mexico, a figure that implies about 60 people going missing every day.

Although the tragedy of Mexico’s missing people did not start with AMLO, it has worsened during his time in office. During Calderón’s six-year term, an average of eight people went missing every day, but since AMLO took power in 2018, that has risen to one an hour, and even the UN and advocates believe the official count of disappeared people in Mexico could be an underestimate.

But the violence—even the overt political violence and murders—aren’t a threat to democracy, AMLO told “60 Minutes.” That violence is a direct result of the Mexican government’s corruption and cooperation with the cartels.

For example, Sinaloa Cartel mobilized to assist AMLO’s Morena party ahead of the 2021 elections in Sinaloa state, kidnapping opposition operatives until after the votes were cast.

And it’s not slowing down. The number of government officials and candidates murdered rose from 94 in 2018 to 355 last year.

In the interview, “60 Minutes” allowed AMLO to speculate on his legacy. His real legacy is the death and lawlessness he has enabled to spread far beyond Mexico.